DVD Introduction to the Nikon D300
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Rating: - D 300 introduction
Better than the manual specially to a newbie like me. it is very informative, well made and most important it is very clear and accurate. I highly recommend this and in fact I have the Vol. 2 for the D300 & 700 advance as well.

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Rating: - BlueCrane does the best training video
This DVD is really great. I've used BlueCrane for Nikon camera training for the D100, D200, and D300. They were all great. You wouldn't try to teach yourself to drive by reading the manual that came with your car would you? If you have the camera you need this training. I watch mine frequently because I don't use the camera as often as I should to maintain full familiarity with the controls. Always a good brush-up before a trip.

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Rating: - basic introduction
Is adequate basic introduction to Nikon 300. Handles the most used features. Not much detail on the complexities of the menus and how they can be used. If you have Nikon 200 DVD this does not add much.

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Rating: - Very useful but often too fast.
This is the third in a series of training tutorials I have purchased from the USA - all of which, incidentally, work perfectly well in my DVD player here in the UK.

The title of the product is an "Introduction to the Nikon D300" camera. Anyone who is already conversant with the complexities and techniques of other digital cameras and has upgraded to the D300 will probably learn very little from this product. For those of us who are beginning a whole new chapter in photography by converting to digital for the first time, there is much to learn and understand and this tutorial is quite reasonable in achieving the goals required.

If, however, you are new to photography altogether and the D300 is your very first camera, there may be certain areas such as the correlation between film speeds, shutter speeds and aperture settings which need to be understood before you sit down and watch this DVD.

The presentation is rather wooden but not as monotone as some I have seen. If, however, I were to make one truly constructive criticism, it would be that the speed of delivery is often too fast.

The only way to learn through these tutorials is to sit down with a Nikon D300 and follow what is being said. I found too many instances when the presenter made one point and by the time I had looked at my camera and back again at the screen he had already moved on and I had missed something. This was especially evident towards the end of the DVD and gave me the impression he was in a hurry to be elsewhere.

All that said, this particular DVD runs for approx. 2 hours and compares very well to others. Criticisms about it being for beginners are misplaced - because it is INTENDED to be an introduction to the camera and is not for advanced users.

The presentation ends with recommendations of two further Blue Crane products called "Through the eyes of a Pro" which, we are informed, contain more advanced instruction. I already possess these products and will be studying them very shortly. So watch this space.

NM

Addendum. I have now studied "Through the eyes of a Pro (Volume 1)" and found it to be very different from what I was given to expect. That product contains no specific instructions relating to the Nikon D300 camera whatsoever. See my review of that particular product for more information.

Another star lost for this product for having misled me.